Sunday, November 27, 2011

Future Sight - Chapter 19

Leshrac sends a wave of caustic magic at the dragon, and the dragon teleports and retaliates with a breath of fire. Bolas follows up with a cloud of freezing dust a swarm of razor sharp crystals to face off against Leshrac's summoned bats and monsters. Back and forth the planeswalkers cast spells and dodge and counter attack and taunt. Nicol Bolas seems to falter catching himself in his own crystal prison, but when he teleports himself free Leshrac finds that there's a thin crystal coating covering the dragon that prevents his deathtouch ability he gained from absorbing Phage's power from Jeska from doing any kind of damage.

"Your fighting skills are a joke, Leshrac, and I find I like hitting you. I plan to make a habit out of it."

There has to be a way to defeat the dragon. Leshrac must abuse one of his weakness. Like his romantic sense of honor and pride. Leshrac tears off the two tusks that make up the Talon Gates, pieces of his ancient leviathan foe, and sends them hurtling towards the Madara cliffs. Nicol Bolas swoops in to save them, and in that moment Leshrac forms his arms into sharp spears and stabs through the crystal coating and into the flesh of the dragon's foot to initiate the Phage rot. The second stab attacks the dragon's mind, the same attack Nicol Bolas has performed on so many others to claim victory.

The effects are immediately apparent and Nicol Bolas planeswalks away. But there is no escape. Only total victory will do.

Leshrac planeswalks after him. Plane after plane after plane. A world covered with buildings, one with a strange inverted mountain, and one full of darkness with a giant in black armor leading an army of vampires. At each stop Nicol Bolas hides and waits for a surprise attack only to planeswalk away once more. And each time more and more of the dragon can be seen rotting away until the entire lower half of the dragon is gone.

There's one brief stop where Leshra is turned away from entering a plane by twin guardians protecting a world that's half light and half dark. Leshrac notes the world for later exploration and continues the hunt.

The chase ends where they began, and Leshrac laughs as Nicol Bolas has been reduced to only a head, spine, and tail. He forms a spear of pure black mana and throws it straight at the dragon's head.

"Is that... for me?"

Leshrac nodded. Later he would think of something witty and cutting and claim he had said to Bolas before he ended the dragon's long life, but right now he was wholly focused on killing him.

The dragon's other eye slid into place, perfecty in synch with its twin. Bolas smiled. "Foolish insect."

Bolas' tail skewers Leshrac from behind and in the blink of an eye he's whole once more. Nicol Bolas tells Leshrac that his plan was performed expertly, however the mask he used was only a copy. It pales in comparison to the original. Nicol Bolas shows him the mask of the latest foe to fall before him, and then turns the mask on Leshrac.

* * *

Clash of the Titans

This was a very enjoyable fight. Ant it better have been. It's the final planeswalker versus planeswalker duel before everything changes. Nicol Bolas vs Teferi was just the warm-up. All the teleporting and spells flying back and forth and the employment of Phage's deathtouch made the whole fight quite exciting.

My one issue with it is that Nicol Bolas admits that Leshrac was able to successfully steal Bolas' most potent weapon with his mask copy and he never really explains how his original mask negated the effects.

"I must give you credit though. You did separate me from my most treasured ability. But in using that mask to do so, you gave it right back to me. Your mask gave you my power, but my mask is greater than yours. Well played, Leshrac. But you have lost."

Obviously the original didn't negate the effects of the copy completely. Did Leshrac only steal a portion of Bolas' black mana and he just thought he had it call because he's never felt so much black mana at one time? Leshrac never felt a mana drain when the real mask was turned on him so the mask didn't reverse the process. It doesn't seem like Nicol Bolas knew the trap was coming, so he didn't pre-store a large portion of his mana in the original, only to take his power back after tricking Leshrac.

I get the concept that his original is more powerful, and that makes sense to me. So if the exact logistics of it all isn't quite clear, I can't help but wonder about it, but it isn't too big of a disappointment. The overall battle was excellent.

Four chapters left and an Epilogue. I doubt we're going to get another huge battle, this was the climax when it comes to villains. Now it's going to be all rift dealing and clean-up.